Behavior of high strength concrete columns under eccentric loads

In recent decades, high strength concrete (HSC) has been widely accepted by designers and contractors to be used in concrete structures, especially in high compressive stress elements. The research aims to study the behavior of high strength concrete columns under eccentric compression using experimental and analytical programs. The research is divided into two main parts; the first part is an experimental investigation for ten square columns tested at the Cairo University Concrete Research Laboratory. The main studied parameters were eccentricity of the applied load, column slenderness ratio; and ratios of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement. The second part is analytical analysis using nonlinear finite element program ANSYS11 on nineteen columns (ten tested square columns and nine rectangular section columns) to study the effect of the previous parameters on the column ultimate load, mid-height displacement, and column cracking patterns. The analyzed columns revealed a good agreement with the experimental results with an average difference of 16% and 17% for column ultimate load and mid-height displacement respectively. Results showed an excellent agreement for cracking patterns. Predictions of columns capacities using the interaction diagrams based on ACI 318-08 stress block parameters indicated a safe design procedure of HSC columns under eccentric compression, with ACI 318-08 being more conservative for moderate reinforced HSC columns.